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The past few years have been great for musical fans, as both global sensations and offbeat musicals have gotten adaptations for the big screen. While fans wait to see if Wicked ends up being the next musical to win Best Picture, the genre is already getting a new entry with Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman. Based off the Kander and Ebb musical of the same name, the film version will star Jennifer Lopez in the titular role. It recently premiered at Sundance, leading JLo to address an applauding audience by saying “I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life.”
While JLo was famously snubbed for Hustlers, fans wondered if perhaps Kiss of the Spider Woman might be her next chance at an Oscar nomination. The positive buzz has officially begun, with JLo rocking a spider dress at the Sundance premiere, and addressing the crowd after receiving a standing ovation. Per Variety, she spoke about her love for the genre, offering:
I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life. The reason I even wanted to be in this business is because my mom would sit me in front of the TV and [‘West Side Story’] would come on once a year. I was mesmerized and was like, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ This is the first time I actually got to do it. This man made my dream come true.
Pretty touching stuff. With Jennifer Lopez’s years of being a global pop star and reputation as a triple threat, one might have assumed she’s already gotten to be in a musical. But that hasn’t happened just yet, and it sounds like the Kiss of the Spider Woman movie has been a labor of love for that reason.
Musical theater nerds like myself might recall that the “Let’s Get Loud” singer nearly got the chance to do a musical a few years back. Lopez was announced to be starring in the live televised Bye Bye Birdie event, but that project never actually came to fruition following multiple delays. And now it seems like those type of live TV musicals are pretty much over.
What Is Kiss of the Spider Woman About?
As previously mentioned, the Kiss of the Spider Woman movie will be directed by John Condon, who has praised JLo and joked she was born in the wrong time. But non-theater people might not know much about this Kander & Ebb musical, which originally starred the legendary Chita Rivera in Lopez’s role(s) Ingrid Luna/Aurora/The Spider Woman.
The story it set in an Argentine prison in 1981, and follows Luis Molina, a gay hairdresser. He imagines fantasy sequences to escape his bleak reality, starring legendary actress Ingrid Luna (played in the film by Lopez). It’s a moving and genre-bending piece of musical theater, one written by the same composers who brought us Chicago, Cabaret, and more.
Unfortunately, it’s currently unclear when Kiss of the Spider Woman will get its full theatrical release, but I assume it’ll be among the 2025 movie releases. Fingers crossed we get more information soon.